


Children of the Moonstone

by Corona_Rebels



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon), Tangled (2010)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eugene Fitzherbert Whump, Gen, Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure-AU, Whump
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-12
Updated: 2020-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:33:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23117026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Corona_Rebels/pseuds/Corona_Rebels
Summary: In this crossover AU, a *trio* of cosmic powers were divided & fell from the heavens. Zhan Tiri, once vanquished, is not merely wanting to destroy Corona, she wants to atomize it...along with every other known dimension...except her own. Her splintering of space-time has caused rifts into a neighboring universe-dimension where Harry Potter, now a battle-tested Auror, must figure out why wizarding folk keep turning up seemingly dead.....or worse. 2 sets of heroes from 2 different times must band together to subjugate an unstoppable foe. Unfortunately, they have to find one another first!!
Kudos: 16





	1. The Royal Signet

**Author's Note:**

> In this crossover AU, a *trio* of cosmic powers were divided & fell from the heavens. Zhan Tiri, once vanquished, is not merely wanting to destroy Corona, she wants to atomize it...along with every other known dimension...except her own. Her splintering of space-time has caused rifts into a neighboring universe-dimension where Harry Potter, now a battle-tested Auror, must figure out why wizarding folk keep turning up seemingly dead.....or worse. 2 sets of heroes from 2 different times must band together to subjugate an unstoppable foe. Unfortunately, they have to find one another first!!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the story of 3 best friends. After playing 2nd fiddle to Rapunzel her whole life, Cassandra now nursed (please excuse the pun) the mother of all grudges. Even Gothel - Cass's own mother - abandoned her for kidnapping Rapunzel away from her family. While the 3rd swashbuckling friend, Eugene, had all but been abandoned as a baby by his own father. As a result, all 3 besties had pretty serious daddy issues. S'good though. They're working on it.
> 
> Nonetheless, it was Eugene's mother who was key to his destiny; ultimately to their destinies with the Sun Drop, Stardust, and Moonstone. The Moonstone in its present shattered form was incompatible with Cass's final intentions; it was only a matter of time until ol' Freaky the Nanny-Goat ganked the Moonstone from her at long last.
> 
> Great news tho! Turns out Eugene "Fish Skin" Fitzherbert could help Rapz n Cass unite the trine! Thing is, Eugene wasn't a believer of destiny. He's only believed in what he can see. Soon, however, this paradigm will be tested to its extreme.
> 
> Everyone has to convince him the key to unlocking this enigma had finally fallen into Eugene's strong, capable, yet-velvety-soft hands! For he was gonna need all the help he could get.

Varian slither-wiggled his way between the slick stones of the narrow gap. He and Eugene were traveling underground using Herz der Zonne’s maps once again, currently navigating midway between two larger stalactite and stalagmite-festooned caverns.  
  
Two days ago, Rapunzel and Eugene had traveled all the way from Corona and approached Varian to ask about recent unexplained earthquake activity. The young scientist knew almost immediately that he’d have to go spelunking again. The idea momentarily made him so excited that Varian exclaimed, “Team Awesome is on the case!” as he called for a high-five from Eugene who warmly obliged.  
  
Although Varian had not been personally conducting any underground experiments lately, he too had noticed a few light tremors over the past few days. And they had been absolutely nothing to get concerned about...or so he assumed. Varian mentioned as much to the princess. Yet she and Eugene both adamantly insisted the seismic effects were far stronger in Corona proper than in Old Corona.  
  
“Ouch!” yelled Varian as the top half of him skittered unceremoniously out of the narrow crevasse and onto the cavern floor. He had to lean against one of the latest new varieties of black rocks that had appeared underground with the earthquakes. That particular rock had been too close for him to avoid contact. Although these rocks thankfully didn’t respond to his touch the way they had with Rapunzel’s presence, Varian could still feel an unusually high heat radiating from within them.  
  
“Are you all right?” Eugene called worriedly from the opposite side of the crevasse. It was the closest either of them had gotten to one of the new rocks thus far, though they had been trying diligently to avoid them all. The pair had gone deep enough into the Herz Derr Sonne caves that it appeared the ones they were crawling into now weren’t too easily accessible by humans. Little if any natural light penetrated the darkness -- except the long-lasting glowing concoction of Varian’s own invention. Thankfully, the compound was something far safer and less likely to spill or blow out than oil or candles in their lanterns.  
  
“Yeah, I - I’m just fine,” Varian replied, “I just had to lean against that new rock crystal to get free,” he said, pushing himself out of the narrow crack. Eugene and Varian were being extra careful not to touch the new rocks. These newest rocks weren’t quite as pointed and there weren’t nearly as many -- only a scattered few so far, and all fairly deep underground from where the cave network began. They hadn’t noticed any of this new type of curved rock on the surface. “This rock got scalding hot when I touched it so watch yourself getting out of the crevasse,” said Varian, carefully maneuvering the rope that held his precious lantern. It had been Eugene’s idea to suspend each of their lanterns from its own rope as they crawled around in the less-accessible and smaller caverns. That way, they could each climb with both hands free.  
  
“You mean this rock?” asked Eugene.  
  
As Varian turned, he saw that Eugene had his entire palm wrapped around the top of the rock that had just so recently scalded the young man. “Yes!” Varian exclaimed, clearly awestruck, automatically slapping away Eugene's hand from it. "Stop that!" But Eugene did not, in fact, "stop that".  
  
“How -- how are you doing that?" Varian demanded. "That thing just burned me not 10 seconds ago!”  
  
“It’s not burning me at all,” said Eugene, matter-of-factly, “but it is doing this interesting glowing thing. See this?” and Eugene took his gloved hand away from the curved tip of the crystal, then put his hand back over the tip, and repeated the move three or four more times. “Isn’t that awesome?”  
  
“Uhhhh,” said Varian, secretly wondering if Eugene hadn’t been down here in the cave for a little too long, “I have no idea what you mean by the rock ‘glowing’, the only thing glowing down here is my formula in our lanterns.” Varian gestured into the vastness of empty (and mostly deep dark) cavernous space around them. Eugene paused and looked in Varian’s direction for a moment, frowning.  
  
“Can you really not see this?” And he purposefully tapped the rock again with a bit more force this time.  
  
“I swear to you all I can see is you tapping on that strange pointy-curved rock,” Varian said seriously. Eugene’s face crinkled. “Weird. I can see all sorts of bizarre veins lighting up inside this rock. But the rock won't light up when I use the other hand.” Eugene said, continuing to experiment. He took his gloves off. Eugene knew that he shouldn’t be climbing while wearing jewelry but his father had recently gifted him this beautiful Blackfyre opal ring. He couldn't bear to leave it behind in his room at the palace.  
  
Blackfyre opal was one of the rarest most exotic stones in the world. So rare that not even Eugene -- a former thief and somewhat connoisseur of valuable precious metals and gemstones -- had heard of it before Edmund told him about it. The stone in Eugene’s ring had originally belonged to his mother, Queen Alexis, in the form of a lovely cabochon pendant. And King Edmund, Eugene’s father, had Xavier cast a new ring and reset the stone for Eugene as a birthday gift. Unlike the disastrous time his dad had tried to give him the family sash, this time Eugene was extremely touched from the beginning. It had to be one of the only things in the world that Edmund had left of Alexis.  
  
Eugene said as much to him, and Edmund looked him straight in the eyes and said, “She made me promise to give it to you. Some of her last words,” at this, Edmund broke eye contact for a beat. Then he returned to looking into eyes so much like his own, “Thank you for understanding why I couldn’t bring myself to give it to you sooner.”  
  
Back at the cavern, Eugene carefully removed his ring and then repeated his same movements with the rock….very interesting. The rock only appeared to react to the proximity of the ring! What on earth?? Eugene spied a little notch in the top of this rock….that looked very familiar…... His ring had a hidden secret -- once you flipped over the Blackfyre opal cabochon, carved into the back was the royal signet of the Dark Kingdom -- the stylized comet. Eugene carefully flipped the cabochon to expose the signet and pushed his ring into the impression on the top of the rock.  
  
“What’re you doing now?” Varian questioned impatiently, walking back to Eugene to reinspect the rock again. And again...Varian saw exactly what he had seen before -- no visible change whatsoever in the tip of that curved rock. Suddenly, another earthquake shook the cavern violently, sending Varian and Eugene scrambling for purchase. “Whoa!!! Hold on!” he yelled to Varian. From across the large cavern, Eugene noticed several new rocks shooting up from the cavern floor, and they were coming straight for Varian. “Hold on to what??” yelled the young alchemist.  
  
Eugene could see the glowing veins from the new upshooting rocks plain as day, barrelling in from behind Varian! Why didn’t that boy move??  
  
"WATCH OUT!" though Eugene attempted to warn Varian, it was apparently useless. With only a split second to make a decision, Eugene took a couple of sprinting steps and launched himself toward Varian, tackling him, in order to push him out of the way of the advancing line of rocks. Though Eugene tried to avoid it, he heard the wind get knocked out of Varian as they both landed together in a heap against the hard stone floor and rolled over. After checking to make sure Varian was still in one piece, Eugene looked up at the walls of the gigantic cavern surrounding them. Now he could begin to comprehend just how cathedral-like this space was, with entire frozen glowing rivulets of precious rainbow gemstone, glittering amongst the plainer granite of the cave. That last earthquake appeared to have revealed something spectacular.  
  
Eugene and Varian were much closer to the center of the cavern now.  
  
The cavern again appeared to simply _sense_ that someone was nearby and in the proper location, as a completely different small stone platform arose from the cavern floor smack in the center of all the new rocks. Little tiny iridescent veins, streams, droplets, outlines, and more appeared in front of him, across every rock face in the cavern now. He didn’t know how this was possible; they were much too far in to have been getting any natural light this bright from the surface. “Woooooooow,” he whistled appreciatively. It was staggeringly beautiful--nah, strike that--it was absolutely breathtaking.  
  
Eugene arose, transfixed, and walked over to the small rising platform, centered in the middle of the new ring of curved rocks that now jutted from the cavern floor. He wondered briefly if the platform were a place to sit down but thought better of it once it arose to about chest height and was angled more like a tiny podium than a stool. It reminded Eugene powerfully of that dreadful labyrinth that he and Rapunzel had to endure to obtain the final piece of the scroll map. _Demanitus's labyrinth,_ thought Eugene with a shudder.  
  
Suddenly Varian called out sounding panicky, “EUGENE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING??” The young alchemist swung his arms about wildly, as if he were somehow blinded. “What is going on!?” he demanded.  
  
Dumbfounded, Eugene questioned Varian, “Whoa, wait -- can you seriously not see anything surrounding us, all the sparkling and glowing in the walls and the ceiling in here?” “Mr. Rider -- err Fitzherbert --” said the young man, going all formal, an obvious attempt to calm himself, “--in that last earthquake, both of our lanterns appear to have been smashed by some falling debris tumbling from the cavern walls. That would mean you and I have thus been plunged into almost complete darkness. A crucial fact which I find extremely odd you appear not to have noticed at all. I, for one, cannot see a thing -- not even my own hand in front of my face. All I can hear is you and the weird scraping noises, plus the earthquake that happened right as you tackled me. Which I assume you had a good reason for doing so,” Varian continued, not entirely able to keep the annoyance from his voice. “But of course, it would be nice to know precisely why you did it,” he hinted strongly.  
  
“....what?” Eugene said with sudden alarm. This was getting seriously disconcerting. “Are you telling me that you can’t see --” he gestured grandly around the vast sparkling expanse, “--all of this beauty?”  
  
“Why?” Varian replied, now sounding more puzzled than panicked. Eugene could almost hear his scientist mode click into gear. “Perhaps your eyes simply adjusted more quickly than mine. What do you see?” Eugene paused before answering. “I see a gigantic cavern with shimmering ribbons of what resembles veins of precious stones in the rock. The walls, ceiling, and even part of the floor are encrusted with these veins that seem as if they’re almost alive. Like...a...have you seen a jellyfish before?” Eugene asked. “Like the rainbowy-ness of a jellyfish in the dark. The colors within the veins are chasing each other nonstop.”  
  
Eugene turned slowly in a circle and continued his description, “Off to the side of the large cavern, in smaller recessed areas, I can see small still deep pools of water so blue, so clear, you can see straight to the bottom where yet more of these glittering glowgems are. I see a pronounced ring of those new spiky rocks -- also glowing -- only instead of appearing randomly, these rocks seemed to have appeared when I placed my ring in the center of that stone near the opening in the crevasse.” “How….interesting,” said Varian, clearly mystified yet fascinated. His scientific mind was finally getting the better of him, stemming his panic, “and what kind of material is your ring made from?”  
  
“Huh?” Eugene said absentmindedly. His attention had been partially diverted to look at the podium-like stone in front of him that had emerged from the cavern floor. It looked as if it might contain an inscription. “Oh yes, the ring. It's made of gold alloy and has a Blackfyre opal in the center.” Varian sucked in a breath. “Blackfyre opal??” He said with extreme awe. “I thought they were mythical. There’s only one scientist ever thought to have worked with them. And he’s from ancient times.”  
  
“Let me guess,” said Eugene with a knowing smirk, “is it one estimable Lord Demanitus?”


	2. Blackfyre and Grimmstone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Varian and Eugene may have finally discovered Demanitus's deepest, darkest secret and exactly what it is that he and Zhan Tiri had been hiding beneath Corona for centuries....if not millennia.
> 
> An unexpected visitor arrives at the Auror office. This time, Harry won't take "no" for an answer, plows through the Ministry's red tape, and fully opens long-overdue investigations. Both the unexplained tremors beneath London and the myriad deaths piling up from inside the Department of Mysteries need further scrutiny.

Varian almost gasped. “But you’re no alchemist. You’re not even a scientist. How might you so easily recall the name of Demanitus?”  
  
“Oh, believe me, kid,” said Eugene, “after Rapunzel found the Demanitus device that one fateful winter and saved us all, there’s not a soul in Corona who doesn’t know that name.” Eugene used that perfect opening to explain his knowledge of Demanitus without having to mention anything about that cursed thrice-damned monkey.  
  
“Oh yeah,” Varian said sheepishly, “I kinda forgot about that.”  
  
“It’s all right,” Eugene consoled him, recalling that at the time the young alchemist had actually been preoccupied with his father Quirin getting accidentally encased in amber. “You had bigger fish to fry at the time.”  
  
“That’s…..one way of putting it,” a deeply embarrassed Varian replied, rubbing the back of his neck, clearly recalling with deep chagrin the disastrous first time he had tried to overthrow Corona out of spite. Eugene doubted the alchemist realized he could see the young man’s pained expression so easily in the relative darkness.  
  
“Aaaaaanyway,” Eugene said, changing the subject, “here are the lanterns and here is your satchel,” he had walked away from the center of the cavern to better assist Varian. “Do you need the glass to be intact for your glow juice to work?”  
  
“Not if the lanterns are going to be held relatively still,” said Varian.  
  
“And I assume you have more of that glow juice in your bag too?”  
  
“Of course. There is a supply of it in the front pocket of my satchel.”  
  
Eugene retrieved the necessary glowing items and held them out for Varian. Adopting a faux supercilious tone, Eugene said, “Ahem. Now that you are better able to see, Doctor, are you better able to effect repairs on the lanterns?”  
  
Varian straightened up and became twice as stuffy in his reply, “I shall endeavour to facilitate thy, uh, command, sir!” Varian gave a goofy salute, and nearly dropped the satchel as he retrieved it from Eugene and Eugene walked back over to the center of the room again. “Team Awesome is on the case again….” Varian mumbled into his bag.  
  
The closer Eugene got to the podium structure, the more imaginary lines within it seemed to glow and sparkle, like a million tiny fireflies twinkling out in a rainbow of colors. For the glow Eugene saw wasn’t merely yellow or green, it was a shimmering iridescent rainbow of every color imaginable. It kind of reminded him of when he held up his new ring to the sunlight. Eugene thought it might interest Varian.  
  
“That’s one remarkable property about Blackfyre opal; when you get close to it -- _really_ close, with your face mere inches away -- you can see rainbow flames dancing…..across…..the surface…..” Eugene’s voice trailed off as his attention was diverted back to the podium.  
  
“Wow! Does it really?” questioned Varian, while repairing the lanterns.  
  
Eugene reached out a hand toward the stone and an inscription leapt out in sparkling etched letters, “Welcome, weary travelers, time-cousins, and dimension-allies. I’m certain your journey to this place has been fraught with much peril. No doubt the knowledge you already possess -- the knowledge that could lead you to this place -- makes you very tempting targets for the unsavory amongst each of the realms. Yet I’m afraid I must burden you with an even larger more dangerous secret -- perhaps the most dangerous knowledge of all. Do not take lightly the decision to possess this knowledge. You are free to walk away right now and no one would think less of you. Now, please place your palms on the stone.” And Eugene saw the words melt away and get replaced by the pictured outline of three right-hand palm prints, arranged in small a semi-circle. It was strange; Eugene could swear he heard the Demanitus-voice reading aloud the light-etched instructions inside his mind. Off-handedly, he wondered if Varian could hear it too. The right-handed symbol indicated that he should prepare to put his right hand on the magic stone.  
  
“Here goes everything,” mumbled Eugene. And he flexed his fingers and carefully placed his palm on the podium symbol.  
  
“Welcome to the Afterglow Garden,” suddenly boomed another, different voice this time. While it wasn’t Demanitus, it was still impressive. It sounded like a woman’s voice this time. A low rumbling sound suddenly emanated from the floor, punctuating the declaration. The floor shook a bit once more. The ring of new odd-shaped stalagmites surrounding the cavern suddenly yet slowly arose from their positions to stop about 3 or 4 feet above the center of the rest of the cave. “This was our greatest experiment,” the voice continued, “to see if Light and Dark could live in true harmony.” The top of each stalagmite began removing itself to reveal the most beautiful flower blossoms Eugene had ever seen. Even Varian had stopped what he was doing to watch and listen. “No _way_!” the young man exclaimed, almost choking, as the impossibly beautiful blossoms were revealed. "An _entire garden_ full of Sun Drop flowers!? _But how!?"_  
  
Eugene’s jaw hit the floor. “Is _that_ what these things are??” He vaguely wondered how it was that Varian could suddenly see everything but could not tear his gaze away from the blossoms. “So you can see everything now? Are they really Sun Drop flowers??”  
  
“Maybe….but they look a little different -- I’ve got to get closer --”  
  
The booming voice continued as the rocks stopped moving and a blaring high-pitched sound rent the air above them as soon as Varian entered the circle, “Might I present our Blossoms of the Trine,” the booming voice answered helpfully, “imbued with unique properties not perceived by typical human eyes. Your own specialized eyes will need to be primed at this time. Please look upward.”  
  
From Eugene’s angle, he shrugged briefly and turned his head to look up. He saw immediately above him an inverted metallic dome with a sun, moon, and stars etched into its surface. Very high above him, the moon dome slowly split open into eight equal parts to reveal the absolutely brightest of bright lights he had ever seen. For the barest second, when he had found it excruciatingly painful, Eugene drew in a sharp agonizing gasp….yet after a moment everything became…..complete bliss.  
  
  
******  
According to Varian, he too had seen the moon-dome split open but the brightness underneath the aperture was so intense that he had instinctively thrown himself backward and shielded his face. That blinding light and high-pitched sound grew to fill his eyes, ears, and his mind with so much stimuli, he couldn’t bear it anymore. He flipped onto his stomach and laboriously dragged himself out of the stone circle on his hands and elbows. Over the piercing din, Varian could’ve sworn he heard someone screaming non-stop and that something….something must’ve gone utterly horribly wrong.

========================================

* * *

  
Harry Potter massaged the bridge of his nose under his glasses. He had looked over the Viktor Krum case at least a dozen times now. The truth was that if Viktor were safely ensconced in the Hoia-Baciu Forest, he would make himself known when he wanted to be found and not a moment sooner. And now it was up to Harry to convince the Ministry there was nothing they could do about it. _Why can’t they just leave the man in peace??_ thought Harry. Why the Ministry somehow thought he could convince the Auror Department in Romania to allow him jurisdiction in the first place was beyond him. Sometimes, he could swear a certain contingent of the wizarding Ministry were as obnoxious as the Muggle paparazzi.

The sudden slight rumbling of the building brought the bone-weary Auror back to reality. He immediately grabbed hold of items on his desk that were not anchored down until the shaking stopped. These unexpected tremors had sprung up a few weeks ago; unfortunately, no one had discovered the cause behind them. They had grown progressively longer and stronger yet they appeared no closer to finding any answers.

After a few minutes, all underground movement finally halted. Pretzeling his body for such a time span had caused Harry’s back to ache. Wincing, he stood and massaged his lower spine. _One thing was for certain,_ Harry thought ruefully, _I’m no kid anymore._

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door behind him. “Come in,” he answered as he magically straightened pictures and discarded files. He assumed it was Ron coming back with new cases, but to his surprise he turned to see his wife, Luna Lovegood, in the doorway. “Luna!” Harry said warmly, a smile springing upon his lips before lightly kissing her. “What a pleasant surprise. How are you?” He asked her, all the while maintaining some semblance of professionalism. “Did we have a lunch date or an appointment? I haven’t forgotten anything, have I? Such as my lunch, perhaps?”

“No, darling, you haven’t forgotten anything,” replied Luna. “But I did want to discuss something of the utmost importance with you,” Luna said, her usual misty voice now honed to something more ominous as she darted glances around the room. Harry could scarcely recall having ever seen her behave this way. 

“Is everything okay? Is Celestia okay? Are the children okay?” He asked, supremely concerned about the rest of their family due to the way Luna just spoke.

“Oh yes, everyone is doing fine,” Luna assured, then quieted for a few seconds. She switched gears and then went on as if tutoring someone. She continued, “Did you know that our world is intertwined with many others? And sometimes what happens out there, the affects can be seen or felt within this world as well?” This subject matter sounded far more like what he was accustomed to hearing from Luna. Many people considered what she said to be little more than endearing yet well-known ramblings. Though few took her seriously, Harry had long-ago learned it was far better to listen and even take heed to Luna’s seemingly random instructions and information.

“Pardon me?” Harry said, initially confused. “Other worlds…well, we all know about the Muggle world and wizarding world, which I guess, can be seen as two different worlds?” he asked, trying to grasp Luna’s intent.

“Those are two ‘worlds’ yes. But I am meaning alternate _dimensions_ , Harry. Other earths, other realms, some that are so dark that only pure evil can reside within them. Some worlds that are so fragile, that all of human existence can be changed irrevocably when even the tiniest foreign substance infiltrates them.”

This was a bit outside what even Luna discussed casually. Then she drew closer to Harry around the side of his desk, still uncharacteristically solemn. Luna gently took her hand and placed it, palm-flat, against his chest. “Have you not felt the ominous damp rising within the air, how the atmosphere has grown colder, how it feels deeper, darker, and denser than any London fog could ever be?”

Harry looked down at the floor, contemplating everything. He had largely attributed the feelings soaking into his bones lately as little more than age and stress catching up to him.

“You _have_ felt it,” Luna said triumphantly, as she watched the realization dawn in Harry’s eyes.

“Wait a minute. You don’t just mean the weird feeling of darkness, do you.” It was a statement, not a question. Luna merely blinked as Harry continued. “Are you talking about the tremors that have been happening? Is that why nobody can figure out why they’re happening? Because they’re originating…erm….from this….these other dimensions? From ’Elsewhere’?”

“Precisely. That is why I came to you, dear husband,” Luna’s silvery eyes seemed to be piercing through his very soul. “The Veil in the Department of Mysteries is more than the portal to death, but it’s also a portal to other realms when used improperly.” Harry was taken aback. He had not discussed any of this around home. How could Luna possibly know that he had been working with the Department of Mysteries lately? Relatively few people even know about the Veil’s existence. Luna’s past knowledge of it made sense. But how could she know Harry had been working on a case there presently?

The Veil was something no one in the entire Ministry of Magic had complete knowledge of nor did anyone alive know exactly how it worked. And, of course, Unspeakables were unfortunately not allowed to discuss openly about any discoveries that they found either. Now Luna appeared to be linking the tremors, alternate dimensions, and the seemingly random and unexplained deaths of the Unspeakables within the Veil room lately. Long-time Ministry employees were dying from unknown causes and all of them were located outside of the Veil. Could Luna truly have knowledge of what had been causing these odd deaths?

“What do you mean, Luna?” Harry slid into Auror mode. “How can it be a portal to other realms? Anyone who goes into it immediately dies.”

“Maybe they _don’t_ die,” Luna continued on with her postulating. “Maybe their physical bodies as they are can’t travel through the portals. Their body and soul must first separate. Yet their body and soul can reunite and become whole again after they arrive within a certain different realm. Such a thing _must_ be possible, must it not? We’ve simply assumed their deaths since we’ve never been able to go in after them without losing everyone who has ever tried.”

Harry tried to follow her train of thought, trying to fully comprehend all that implied. In spite of himself, the old familiar twinge of Sirius falling back through the Veil began playing on loop through his subconscious and Harry did his level best to squelch, ignore, and shove it as far back into his mind as possible. “All right, Luna. Assuming what you say is correct, what does all this Veil talk have to do with the tremors that are going on?” he queried, steering the conversation back on track. Luna stood up and walked to the door. “Luna?”

“Aren’t you coming?” Luna said as if he already agreed to come with her. “There is something you need to see.” Internally, Harry chastised himself for what he was doing, but his professional impatience and yes, curiosity, had finally got the best of him. Although Luna currently didn’t have the security clearance required to enter the Department of Mysteries, these were mitigating circumstances as they needed to solve the employee deaths before yet another one happened. Besides, Luna had already been here at least once or twice before…

Luna led the way down the stone corridors. The walk brought back even more memories about the end of their fifth year at Hogwarts. That fateful year, he had been tricked by Voldemort into believing that his godfather, Sirius, had been in grave danger being held by Death Eaters in the Department of Mysteries. Yet it was a lure, a trap, a ruse to get Harry out and away from protection. Ultimately, it had resulted in Sirius’s death and even years later, those memories still somewhat haunted Harry.  
  
He and Luna entered the atrium where the Veil sat. In the otherwise empty room, bouquets of black shining spikes of crystalline stone had pierced through the otherwise pristeen marble floors. Some had burst through the lower parts of the walls. The sight was well beyond anything that Harry had ever seen or known. It certainly could not indicate anything good.

“The first grouping of stones in the corner came through about three weeks ago,” Harry pointed, and Luna piped up, “That was the first tremors,” she explained, as if this were an everyday occurrence. Harry’s head whipped around. How could Luna possibly _know_ that?? “With each tremor, more of these spikes come through, right?” She continued. “None of them go behind The Veil but they seem to be leading outward from it.”

Harry’s mind swirled around, wondering what this could implicate for the Wizarding World. What type of evil were they dealing with? Perhaps a powerful curse? Some nasty new demagogue coming to power. Or something much worse or unexplainable….and alternate dimensions…yikes. This was all making his head hurt. He massaged one of his temples under his glasses.

“The deaths are caused by physical contact with the crystal,” Luna said grimly. “It’s almost like some kind of energy draining force… Every kind of potion and spell has been tried on those black crystalline rocks and not one was affected or damaged.”

“Why isn’t this more widely known and why only tell me this now?” Harry demanded, studying one of the shards from a distance. They reflected his image like any opaque glass material. He also got a weird and unsettling vibe off them that he couldn’t explain. It felt as if some kind of invisible force were reverberating from them.

“I attempted to tell Minister Percy,” Luna said quietly, “and he told me that he would have it looked into but never did,” Luna said sadly. That didn’t sound at all like the Minister Percy Weasley that Harry knew.

Harry ran his fingers over silver-tipped temples. “Have these crystals spread to anywhere else that you know of?” They needed a course of action and quickly.

“No, not yet,” Luna answered, sounding almost relieved. “Perhaps we can ask the others in the department.” Harry nodded, still in furious thought over what immediately needed to be done. “I can’t ask you to help any further, Luna, but I would be forever indebted to you if you stayed. I know with the children, perhaps we should make different arrangemetns….and you are welcome to walk away at this moment, no questions asked. I cannot thank you enough for even this much of your assistance.” 

He immediately placed several strongly warded shielding charms around the entire space of The Veil room to make certain that nobody else could just walk in. They didn’t need any more deaths. “No one is allowed in here, not with any level of clearance. These shield wards aren’t coming down until we can determine where these black spikes are coming from and why,” Harry ordered firmly. We need to find some sort of lead.” The blonde woman nodded and left to go get the paperwork.

Percy might become livid over his Head Auror once again going behind his back, but it was necessary. Harry wasn’t about to become what he spent most of his life hating. He knew that his mother-in-law would want to know about the black shards, and she could possibly have insight as to what they were. At least...that’s what he hoped.

Harry was about to return to his office when a most horrifying scream of pain and terror rent through the atrium. It sounded as if someone were being…burned. The sound reverberated off the walls and was impossible to localize. His hand instinctively pulled his wand out of his robe pocket as he searched for the source of the blood-curdling noise. “Who’s there?” He demanded, his eyes scanning the darkness. “This is Harry Potter, Head Auror of the Ministry for Magical Protection,” he continued with authority. “Are you hurt?”

As he was mere feet away from The Veil, he heard a younger male voice saying “Ow!” from…inside The Veil. But that wasn’t possible…was it? The only thing Harry could ever recall hearing from behind the tattered drapery were layers upon layers of indistinct whispers. 

Even more curious and confused, the Auror stepped closer to the Veil. “....try this out…” the young male’s voice continued, there was an actual conversation on the other side of the archway, which was virtually impossible by all standards of logic. Harry questioned whether or not, an unknown dark wizard tampered with it or if Luna was right, a different realm sat just inside of the Veil. Either way, it needed to be solved and quickly.

Harry ignored anyone who attempted to speak to him as he sped down the corridors, he had to get back to his office or maybe to St. Mungo’s where his mother-in-law was. Maybe she could have information about the ‘other realm’ phenomenon. He considered Albus Dumbledore, then again. Harry was quite sure the elderly wizard already knew about what was happening. One of his ludicrous mind games he played on Harry since his childhood. Something Harry thought ended years ago.

“Harry! Harry!” Ron’s voice called suddenly from behind him. “Harry, whoa! Where’s the Fiendfyre at?” He questioned his partner half-jokingly.

“What?” Harry asked, suddenly irritated by the fact that Ron interrupted him.

Ron raised a perplexed eyebrow at him but continued speaking. “Right, anyway, the files of the last two Unspeakables were given to us,” Ron said, showing them to Harry. “You asked for them?”

“Yeah…yeah…” Harry quickly grabbed them, rifling through them at lightning speed. Each had the same cause of death. Undetermined. “Uhh…Thanks, Mate…I need to go…” Anxious to resume his mission to solve the odd mystery.

“You’re welcome…but what is going on? Why did you ask for those?” It was reminding Harry of their school years, and like those days, Ron wouldn’t just look up stuff for himself. Unlike those years, Harry could no longer keep his patience anymore. He was going to tell Ron all about it as he had the time but as usual, Ron expected Harry to drop everything he was doing at the moment and simply spoon-feed to Ron the requisite info that could be found in multiple other less-lazy, less-obnoxious ways.

“Let’s just say that this may have to do with the tremors,” Harry informed him. “Luna said something about the Veil being a portal to other realms.” Ron gave Harry a dubious look and Harry was in no mood whatsoever to hear Ron’s objections.

“Harry, I know she is your...other partner but this is Luna we’re talking about here, though,” Ron started in, heedless of Harry’s withering glare. Ron still didn’t understand the Potter-Lovegood partnership either, even after his own wife explained it to him repeatedly. “Everything Luna says is…well, not logical…” the way Ron said it was so….condescending. Nor could “not logical” Luna fully explain that crystal clear conversation Harry heard from within the Veil just moments ago. Finally, Harry realized he’d had enough of Ron’s childish objections. Something inside of him simply snapped.

“Ron, don’t take this the wrong way,” Harry said, his voice dripping with sarcasm, as he determined to tell off Ron once and for all just how far he could piss off, “but could you please just grow the hell up?” Ron’s jaw dropped and he spluttered in shock. The redhead had clearly not expected this. But Harry wasn’t finished.  
  
“My Luna, I might add, has a far, far better track record of being correct than you do, and that dates back to the time during our Hogwarts years,” added Harry. “And _you’re_ supposed to be the Auror here, so by extension you’re logical and correct for a living! In my mind, that means you should be correct and logical _at least_ as often as someone about whom you are constantly kvetching!!!” Then Harry got right up close to his job partner again, pointed a finger in his face, as Ron’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head and Harry emphasized very carefully, “So until and unless you can raise a single valid concern, and not merely engage in yet more immature ass-hattery, I _Do. Not. Want. To. Hear. It.”_ Harry was well aware he sounded like he had fallen off his rocker, but at the moment he cared not one whit. Something instinctively told him that he should listen to Luna. “ _Is that clear, Weasley?”_ It wasn’t often Harry addressed Ron by surname only, even after they’d become Aurors. “Yup,” said Ron, in tiny clipped syllables. “Crystal, Sir. Got it.”  
  
“We need to find answers and ASAP. For the sake of the families, at least.”

The only person that could have more insight was his mother in law, Madam Adonna. And she just happened to be the wizard healer assigned to examine all the bodies and was studying the source of their unexpected deaths. This could give them the answers they needed. 

**Author's Note:**

> This story is very much a work in progress. The first 6 or so chapters were written about 6 months ago and almost nothing was changed/edited, even after the final 6 Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure episodes had been broadcast!! 
> 
> That said, I might need to go back and correct minute details here or there and I would also appreciate genuine critiques of any continuity errors any of you might notice. I don't have quite the mindset for logistics that I once did, though I do still try very hard.
> 
> Thank you for your time spent reading and thank you for any feedback you might choose to leave.
> 
> If I didn't just post things and get it over with, I'd never post anything at all. I'm sure most of us know what that's like.


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